September Gallery Crawl

It was a dark and rainy night. But that didn't deter Pittsburghers from making their way to the Cultural District for the Gallery Crawl.

Wonder of wonders, the most recent edition of the Gallery Crawl was not scheduled for the same Friday as Unblurred. Too often, I have had to make a choice on which to attend. Usually I end up on Penn Avenue in Friendship because the venues have much more limited hours and the exhibits have a shorter run. In case you have lost track, Unblurred is taking place on Friday, October 7.

Looped


You have probably seen Tom Mosser's work, walking down Smithfield Street in Downtown. His Two Andy's mural is located on the wall above Weiner World. This past month, Mosser's work has been displayed in the lobby of L'enfant Lofts.

In place are a few oil paintings, including the above work. There is a fine attention to color in these works, layered meticulously. On close examination, the canvas works have a low-relief of texture, heralding back to the concepts expressed by the Pointillist school. The over-blown depiction of the flower and the single eyes that comprise the paintings on exhibit allow for a lot of latitude in the color composition.

If you want to see Mr. Mosser's work, he has a very extensive website and his studio is at the Blackbird Lofts in Larryville. L'enfant Lofts, where he is exhibiting downtown, is a loft development in progress and does not has regular hours. You can, I'm sure, peek through the windows while you're walking on Penn Avenue.

Looped - Tom Mosser
L'enfant Lofts
806 Penn

Universal Expressions: Movement in Multiple Dimensions

Thomas Bigatel Open Wound Healing

This is an aptly named exhibit: the works by Thomas Bigatel express gesture very well. His palette, while focused within individual works, is broadly employed in the presented in the exhibit. His color choices seem impulsive, but are definitely guided by an experienced eye. Coupled with the gestural quality of his mark-making, the works are intense and kinetic.

I was particularly drawn to Open Wound Healing (pictured above). The subtle transitions of yellow to yellow-green is a calming counter to the contrasting blood-reds of the central motif. My sense of the piece was that it pulsated to the beat of a heart.

Universal Expressions has just recently opened and will remain on display through November 13.

Universal Expressions: Movement in Multiple Dimensions
Painting and Sculptures by Thomas Bigatel and Peter Johnson
Friday, September 23 - Sunday, November 13, 2011
709 Penn Gallery
709 Penn Ave
Gallery hours
Wednesday through Thursday, 11 Am to 6 PM,
Friday-Saturday 11Am to 8 PM, Sunday 11 to 5 PM. till 5 PM

Progression

707 Penn Gallery Progression

Harish Saluja includes painting in his many artistic passions. The Progression exhibit includes works from various series, showcasing Saluja's range of expression. The works are layered with detailed texture and shift between figurative and abstract. I was drawn very much to the interpretative Mandalas that were included in the exhibit.


Harish Saluja Mandala #4

From Mr. Saluja's site --

In his Mandala Series, his latest set of paintings, he has started incorporating figurative and semi-abstract images with abstraction. The result is a sumptuous, almost erotic celebration of joy. Mandala is Sanskrit for circle, polygon, community, and connection. It is a symbol of man or woman in the world, a support for the meditating person. The Mandala is often illustrated as a palace with four gates, facing the four corners of the Earth. Before the meditating person arrives at the gates, he/she must, however, pass the four outer circles: the purifying fire of wisdom, the vajra circle, and the circle with the eight tombs and the lotus circle.

I would further add that Mandala #4 has a quality of controlled danger to it, with its central circle of slashed red and the overlapping textures that demonstrate an intrusion of one circle into the next.

Harish Saluja - Progression
707 Penn Gallery
707 Penn Ave
Gallery hours
Wednesday through Thursday, 11 Am to 6 PM,
Friday-Saturday 11Am to 8 PM, Sunday 11 to 5 PM. till 5 PM

Shake It & Make It with Handmade Arcade!


The last Gallery Crawl saw a pop-up exhibit of Jason Sauer's work at 929 Liberty Avenue; this month, the lovely people of Handmade Arcade took over for an evening of DIY crafting and making. Tables were ranged around the room, a DJ was spinning some great tunes, and the space was packed with dozens of people. A continuous stream kept the Handmade Arcadians hopping, helping with making buttons, postcards and flowers. You could also leave a message for anyone that came in about the things you love to make.

The projects underway last evening --

"Greetings from Pittsburgh" (handmade postcards);
"Say you, Say me" (personalized pin-back buttons);
"ReFab & ReFunk" (junk flowers and mini sculptures).

Handmade Arcadians are gearing up for their big holiday show, coming in November. Hands on activities are part of the fair, so while you're doing your gift shopping, you can also plan on making a little something. I'm sure they will be posting a vendor list on their site, but in the meantime, put this on your calendar.

HANDMADE ARCADE FOR THE HOLIDAYS
SATURDAY, NOV. 12, 2011
11 AM - 7 PM
EARLY BIRDIE ENTRANCE AT 10 AM
David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown
• Free admission
• Over 150 vendors, local and from out-of-state
• Early Birdie passes
• Refreshments on-site
• Hands-on Handmade activities

Your Place at the Banquet


Rose Clancy Food For Thought Table

Your Place at the Banquet, curated by Rose Clancy, attempts to engage its audience in the poltics of sustenance. The exhibit extends beyond the gallery walls to include screenings and performances in satellite locations. From the exhibition site --

Your Place at the Banquet is a visual art exhibition and public awareness initiative that critically examines the mechanisms of our industrial food system and aims to empower people to sow the seeds of change through their daily choices and actions.

The exhibition features new work by Rose Clancy, H.E.A.P. HQ (Kevin Clancy, Dan Mooradian, Ali Reid), David Pohl, Tom Sarver, and Zayde Buti that seek to generate public awareness, critical discussion, and collective action around issues of food politics.

Curated by Rose Clancy. Participating artists include:
Rose Clancy, David Pohl, Tom Sarver, H.E.A.P. HQ and Zayde Buti.

Your Place at the Banquet
September 16 – October 15, 2011
Future Tenant
819 Penn Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Open Weekdays 11am-5pm

January Gallery Crawl

A couple weeks ago, I did a brief tour downtown of some of the visual arts venues. Well, as a follow-up, I swung through downtown for the January Gallery Crawl on Friday to catch some of the things that I missed and see the new exhibits. My first stop was Resolutions, curated by Urban Tree Forge and moxie DaDA.



Unfortunately, the gallery crawl was the closing reception for the exhibit. But I did want to point out that Gabe Felice had several small works in the show. Not the ones pictured above. The venue was entirely too packed to really get a shot. These were indicative of what was at the venue though. What I've seen of his work seems to be in this really small scale. Gabe Felice shows pretty regularly, so I'm sure you'll have an opportunity to see it out there in Pittsburgh.

Urban Tree Forge & moxie DaDA
820 Liberty Avenue
Resolutions
Resolutions promotes moral courage and strength of mind. Artists have been chosen for their choice in materials and context of self-discovery, as well as their resolve to create and produce from within the urban landscape.

As always, Shaw Galleries had its wonderful collection of prints and maps on display. This month, Shaw is showing a series of pochoir prints created by Rouault. The exhibit is over on January 30, so try to stop by and see them. There is a short explanation of pochoir prints in a previous post.

Shaw Galleries
Rouault: Visages
805 Liberty Avenue
Features all 10 original pochoir prints from the late French Expressionist Georges Rouault's very rare Visages Portfolio (Album of Faces).

The Gallery Crawl was too packed to get images from 707 Gallery of Anjali Srinivasan's solo exhibit. The above image is from the artist's website. Several people have already reviewed this exhibit, so I am just adding my voice to the many in urging you to go and see it. The work is lovely and I look forward to visiting the gallery again before the exhibit closes in February.

707 Penn Gallery
707 Penn Avenue
Particulate Behaviors: New Works by Anjali Srinivasan
The exhibit explores the threshold of olfactory sensation, optical phenomena and participatory environments, through installations and objects of spice, glass and emergent technologies.

A Taste Of The Gallery Crawl : 707 Penn Ave.

Here are shots from the Joseph Shepler solo @ 707 Penn Gallery. There are gallery cards for this wonderful show but good luck otherwise finding info on it. The Cultural Trust seems to not consider the 707 / 709 spaces important enough to update on the website. They show local and regional artists and more than occasionally have great little shows. We all wish them luck in hyping their real estate prices so they don't have to bother with this culture stuff.

Joseph Shepler

707 Penn Gallery

1/26-2/24/2007

Gallery Hours

Tuesday - Thursday 11 am -- 6 pm

Friday & Saturday 11am- 8 pm

This show will also have an opening downtown tomorrow night at 707 Penn.


707 PENNinvites you to an opening reception

Friday, December 8from 5 - 7pm
VISTAS new works by Sarah Beitler

GALLERY HOURS
Tuesday-Thursday 12-8pm
Friday-Saturday 12-10pm

I think the show closes on Dec 31st, but I am not too sure how I got that info. The email I got didn't have it and what passes for a website doesn't give any date for the closing.

Good luck finding much info about this show.

People should be realistic about what most of the downtwon shows are-- temporary, transparent efforts to hype real estate downtown. However, many of these shows are very worthwhile. People here need to cherish these spaces while they exist.

the Buddha Bomb/ Francis Crisafio @ Gallery 707

Friday night I went to the opening of a small but stunning show by Francis Crisafio in one of the Cultural Trust spaces; Gallery 707. Francis, in his statement, apologizes for the lack of high end production values, but the show is tight, wonderfully thought out and fits perfectly into it's setting. It is has to be seen and contemplated in person so I won't be wasting too much time describing it.


From his artist's statement:


" The Buddha Bomb is a video+sound+graphic image installation that metaphorically explores two iconic extremes; the Buddha, a represtative of inner and outer harmony and the Bomb, in our time the absolute symbol of power, control and fear. In between is a human element at play with a number of layers I have not been able to develop fully as of yet. " fc06


Francis, for the second time ( the first was in my space ), has used a short film looping on an I- Pod as part of an installation and it really works. The overall effect of the show is to pose a question and create a place for meditation.